Bibendum Times: a wine community that is completely different

Outside of the travel-based features I try and provide mixed range of wines from a varied rage of companies; Waitrose features quite regularly as that is my local supermarket and they do have a decent range. As does Bibendum. Fully embracing and supporting the wine blogosphere of course helps!

As with all things Internet there is a steady stream of ‘things’ happening from Bibendum – wine maker lunches (which I annoyingly seldom seem to be able to attend), tastings and so on. Just this week Bibendum-Times has been launched.

Bibendum Times started as a small idea for our Annual Tasting concept and has grown into something completely unique in the world of wine events and communities. We are building on our ground-breaking social media strategy over the last 12 months to create an on-line hub for anyone passionate about wine, food, travel, news and social media. It will engage wine trade, press and consumers in so many different ways that we believe it the first of its kind…anywhere!
Of course the tasting is still the focus and we can’t wait to share that particular experience with you on the 20th January 2010. It features over 1000 brilliant bottles from a range of about 200 different winemakers, all there to share their passion with you on the day. But as ever, it’s more than just a tasting; it’s a chance to join all of us at Bibendum for our huge celebration of all things wine.

The Bibendum Times is a website like no other and is here to stay, long after the Annual Tasting dust has settled. It’s a community where all wine lovers can air their views, post their pictures and videos, and interact with Bibendum, wineries and other like-minded people. The website is brimming with reader stories and ideas and will spread the good message using social networking tools. Look out for a real sommelier slant as well as we try to engage this key audience more than ever before.
You can find the website at www.bibendum-times.co.uk.

One of the most important features of the website is that it both pulls in information, from readers and bloggers, and also pushes it out through Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

This push and pull technology allows content to be published and shared in real-time and in a single viewable place. It also means everyone can interact and get involved with the website whether or not they are a member of the likes of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter. In this way, Bibendum Times can reach out to everyone, wherever they are and whatever they do online.

As we build up to the big day expect activity on the website and at the venue to go into overdrive. Those at the venue will be able to interact with each other in completely different ways. Post a video tasting note, ask Bibendum a question on Twitter, submit your tasting photos in real time or vote in the one of the polls. On top of that, wine lovers who couldn’t make it will be able to follow the tasting like never before using the Homepage livestream, which relays all th e various activities as and when they happen.”

Most of the Bibendum tastings are trade tastings (i.e. not open to the general public). With so many people enfolded by Bibendum-love the opportunity for food bloggers (who outnumber the wine bloggers greatly) to write their impressions (in a food-focused, less wine-geeky voice) and those in the trade without a blog is a great way to enhance the UK’s wine-web offering. It is also a magnanimous step by Bibendum as they do seem happy to accept contributions not necessarily connected to the wines they list. If I had some spare time, what would I contribute?